How about that goofy play in the eighth?

9-3-6-3-2-5 double play that resulted in an obstruction call also got Ozzie booted from the game.

Jeff Vorva

Even by White Sox vs. Cubs standards, an apparent double play that eventually resulted in an obstruction call - make that a 9-3-6-3-2-5 double play, for scoring purposes - was a goofy play.

In the eighth inning of the Cubs’ 3-0 win at U.S. Cellular Field on Sunday, the Cubs had Angel Pagan at first and Felix Pie at second with no outs when Mark DeRosa hit a ball to the right-field wall.

After it hit the ground, right fielder Rob Mackowiak retrieved it and fired the ball to first baseman Paul Konerko - and all heck broke loose.

Pie, who got a late start as he had tagged up at second in case the ball was caught, had stopped at third. But Pagan rounded second - colliding with shortstop Juan Uribe along the way - and then headed back to second when he realized Pie was at third.

Konerko fired the ball to Uribe, who tagged Pagan for an apparent out. Uribe threw back to Konerko as DeRosa got caught between first and second. Pie then broke for home, and Konerko threw the ball to catcher A.J. Pierzynski. Pie was then caught in a rundown and was finally tagged by third baseman Josh Fields.

After the umpires conferred, they ruled Uribe had committed obstruction in the collision with Pagan. Pie was sent back to third, Pagan to second and DeRosa to first, giving the Cubs a bases-loaded, no-outs situation.

Sox manager Ozzie Guillen argued the call and was thrown out of the game. Pie eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Koyie Hill to give the Cubs a 3-0 lead.

“Uribe obstructed the runner going from first to third,” crew chief Joe West said. “As the play happened, (second-base umpire Ed Rapuano) signaled obstruction. (Guillen thought he had) two outs, and he ended up getting no outs. That’s why Ozzie said, ‘You’re just going to have to ring me. ... You’re going to have to kick me out. I can’t take that.’

“He didn’t use any profanity; he was very gentlemanly.”

Pagan said he talked to Uribe after the play.

“I said, ‘What were you doing?’ and he said, ‘Hey, man, you can fly,’ ” Pagan said. “He said he didn’t expect me to get there so quickly. I yelled to the umpire because it was interference.”

Guillen said he was mostly angry at his team before he got tossed for the second time this season.

“I don’t know if they (the umpires) were right or wrong,” Guillen said. “We didn’t lose the game because of that. I was more mad at the guy that hit the ball off the wall. I think they got it right. I don’t know yet.”

Before heading to the clubhouse, Guillen instructed bench coach Joey Cora to protest the game. Even that didn’t work out so well.

“He came out to protest, but he has to tell me what rule he is protesting,” West said. “He has to give me some kind of explanation. And he said, ‘I don’t know what happened.’ We didn’t let him (protest). You can’t just come out and say, ‘I’m protesting.’

“In Joey’s behalf, he had no idea - he was told to protest the game. So he went out there with a pocketknife to a gunfight.”

More Cubs/Sox coverage can be found online at www.dailysouthtown.com/sports.

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